Phantasms
by SpearmintMirage
Summary: They still existed, but few had the right eyes to see them with. People knew their names, but those words were just a legacy. They had once been real, unlike Lilli had thought, but now they lingered in a place with only each others' grating voices to fill the void.


It was finally over.

The mental institution stood high against the night sky, blocking the impressive view of the stars and moon with its oppressive darkness. Shadows slinked away only at the bright blue and red lights of the ambulance and police cars parked around the premises. Officers and patients alike lingered, scattered across the grounds. Off to the side stood two figures, one a weathered nun petting the stuffed animal she held in her arms. Beside her, a young blonde girl in a school uniform watched the investigation unfold with dull tired eyes. The poor child had seen, heard, and done more tonight than she could have ever imagined experiencing in her the entirety of her quiet uneventful life. No, that prior life was now torn to such insignificant shreds that even a thousand sewing needles couldn't stitch back together.

In last several hours, Lilli's reality had disintegrated before her very eyes. The truth was harsh like a horror story. Her mind had been violated and distorted to conform her to the strict expectations of a jaded old man. The other children at the convent were nothing but lifeless bodies, crushed, mangled, and strangled all from the touch of her paint-covered hands. The only other survivors, her best friend and her ally, were never real in the first place. The only ones she had truly trusted had faded into nothingness at the howl of her unbridled scorn.

After such a long painful journey, the calm end scene playing before her was so surreal. The man with the paper bag on his head - Reuben, was it? - sat in one of the ambulances, his headpiece removed, and a paramedic treating the large cut where Lilli had grazed him with a sharpened chair leg. (After witnessing the Valley of Unpleasant Memories, she was suddenly very grateful for her terrible aim.) An officer off to the side was questioning King Adrian while his roleplay group stood by him, bored without their dice and character sheets. Even Dr. Marcel had been taken care of, wheeled out of his asylum and into a cop car, shouting and cursing all the while. Lilli almost wished she could see the look of death in his eyes, futilely trying to cut her to ribbons with his glare, if only so she could return the gaze tenfold to once more assert her awakened defiance.

The nightmare was over. Everyone was safe now.

Even so, a large part of her still felt empty.

Just then, Lilli noticed a couple of police officers exiting the asylum, between them a somber looking woman in a hospital smock with her head hung low. Lilli recognized her outrageous hairstyle in an instant.

"Miranya!"

The tired woman looked up, and her expression lit up as bright as her bold orange hair. She rushed over to Lilli with relief in her eyes, giving her a warm hug.

"Little girl!" The medium exclaimed, "Thank goodness you're alright! I thought that crazy doctor had gotten you too!"

"He did, but I - " Lilli wanted to say more, but broke into a coughing fit.

Mother Superior handed her student a bottle of water, courtesy of the paramedics. "Careful, dear. Your voice is still recovering."

Lilli chugged the cool refreshing liquid until her the burning in her throat subsided.

"Are you alright, Lilli?"

The girl turned her attention to the toy cradled in Mother Superior's arms, a blue rabbit with a long stitch scarring his right eye. Despite being inanimate by most accounts, he spoke with a voice that rang as clear to her as any human's did.

"Yes, Harvey, I think I'll be fine." She coughed once more, "It's just been awhile since I've raised my voice like that."

"Ha ha, I would've loved to have seen the look on the old coot's face! You're a regular rebel, you know that?"

Lilli giggled, but Miranya's eyes widened.

"You...you can hear him?"

Lilli looked surprised. "Y-yeah...wait, you mean _you_ can hear him?"

Miranya continued to gawk at her for a few moments more before a smile erupted onto her face.

"I knew it! I knew you were special! No wonder you entered the spirit world and returned alive! You have the gift!"

"What "gift"?"

Miranya took her by the shoulders. "The gift of visions, little girl! The sixth sense! You can see and hear spirits like me!"

Lilli almost couldn't comprehend the medium's words. "But...how can you be so sure?"

"Because you can hear the spirit in the rabbit! I bet you can hear all sorts of voices! And surely you must have seen the other two as well?"

Lilli could swear her heart almost stopped.

"Th-the other two?"

"Yes! The two I saw running through the halls! Poor things, too. They looked so young…."

The little girl could do nothing but stare ahead blankly as her exhausted mind pushed to process the mystic's words. Lilli gradually turned towards her stuffed rabbit friend who shrunk away from her sight.

"Harvey…?" She asked, her voice slow and pitifully hoarse, "What is she talking about?"

He shifted his eyes around uncomfortably before finally returning Lilli's gaze.

"Well, Lilli...Marcel wasn't wrong. But he _did_ miss a few...details."

* * *

From the road outlook, Edna observed the small groups of people crowded in front of the towering mental institution. For someone who normally hated authority, it was incredibly satisfying to see the good ol' nuthouse finally under the watch of the police. Now at least she could be confident that everyone was in good hands, or at the very least protected from that demented geezer.

Speaking of law enforcement, the figure sitting on the bench behind her shifted, and once again she was reminded that she wasn't alone. The pale young man was her opposite in many ways, quiet and stern with the intent of leaving as little of an impression as possible. Perhaps that was what made interaction between them so heated and difficult, even when a question was torturing her.

Finally, she pushed herself to ask. "So now what?"

His response was curt. "Marcel will get his. Hopefully his absence will bring peace back to this town."

Edna hopped up and took a seat on the railing bordering the outlook, "No, I mean...for me. For us. I'm pretty new to this, Gerret. I don't really know what's supposed to come next."

"Well, is there anything else you want to do? Anywhere you want to go? You're quite free to do as you want now, and surely you of all people can find a way to cause trouble with your new-found abilities."

She laughed a little. "Well, I know I have one more thing left to do. It's not like me to leave a score unsettled after all. But after that I can't think of anything else."

"If you really think you're done, there's always one option."

"Uhh…." Edna regarded the cloudless sky with uncertainty. "There's at least two people up there I'm not ready to face yet. And besides, I can't see any "light" to go towards."

"Same. I'm not entirely certain how that works either."

She swung her feet impatiently. He wasn't giving her the answers she needed, and she was pretty sure he was growing a little tired of her indecision. She decided to approach from a different direction.

"Well, what's _your_ plan?"

"I was thinking of sticking around the convent. Keep an eye on things."

"Don't you have anywhere else to go back to?"

"I've got a couple of siblings and some co-workers back in the city, but honestly I'm more content to be away from them. Seeing them mourn, watching them with the knowledge I'll never get to speak to them again…." He stared dismally down at the ground, "It just makes things worse."

Edna walked to the bench and took a seat beside him. She wasn't sure which words were suitable for calming existential despair, so instead she lightly placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, and his expression lightened a few shades when he looked up at her. They were both so different, but still recognized a bit of themselves in each other's weary eyes.

Edna sighed, "I just hope Lilli doesn't hate us now."

"Well it's not our fault that we aren't exactly "real". It's rather annoying we couldn't help her as much as we wanted to, but - "

"That's not what I mean."

She looked into the distance, focusing on the blonde dot in a crowd of two or three people.

"We shouldn't have lied to her."

"I doubt the truth would have been any more comforting, or for that matter, believable."

"Not that."

Gerret took a deep breath. This wasn't something he was proud of either.

"I didn't mean for it to happen, y'know." She started, "I wanted to be friends, but I shouldn't have let her grow so attached to me. I didn't think she would follow me. But then when she did...I don't know, I figured it was a chance to make her feel like a hero. With you and Harvey playing along, it felt like I was doing the right thing. But we still manipulated her into thinking her friends, _real_ people, were in danger. And then I just kept panicking until - "

Gerret watched what was left of the vibrant energy in her eyes disappear.

"I told her to give up. To give in. I didn't want her to become a puppet, and I definitely didn't want Marcel to win, but I just…I didn't want to her to get in anymore trouble. I didn't want her to make the same mistake I did."

"You're not the only one." Gerret offered, "I certainly didn't want to see her thrown in jail. Or worse - " He stopped briefly and glanced away, trying to find the right words to finish the thought, "Have her story end in tragedy."

"Even worse," She continued, seemingly numb to his words, "After all I said, I turned right back around and cheered her on when she started to fight back." Her eyes dropped to the ground in shame, and locks of violet hair fell around her face. "It's not fair. A sweet little girl like that doesn't deserve a two-timing criminal as a friend. As her _only_ friend."

This time, Gerret was the one to offer her a consoling hand, patting her back. "I wouldn't worry about that at least. She has Mother Superior and that medium woman now. And Harvey...I think."

"I'm sure he'll stick with her. He's a good guy...or rabbit, I guess"

"What I mean is, isn't he supposed to be attached to you or something?"

Edna furrowed her brow. "Y'know, I've been thinking about that. He's a part of me, yeah, but he technically has his own consciousness, so I guess he left behind his own spirit. And he probably can't move, because he was never able to move in the first place. And maybe he likes staying with his "body" since it's in good condition." She shivered as the faint scent of seawater taunted her nose. "I don't think mine would stitch up so easily."

Gerret tapped his fingertips against the wooden bench. "Well, hate us or not, I want to be sure she's okay. Plus, the convent is all I've got going for me right now."

Edna laughed shortly, spirits lifting a little, "Let's hope Mother Superior doesn't try to exorcise you."

He rolled his eyes, exasperated either by such a ridiculous idea or at the prospect that she could be right. "Well, maybe there's a chance Lilli will forgive me. Just remember that there's an even greater chance she'll forgive _you_."

"How do you figure?"

"You were her best friend at one point, right? Surely she hasn't forgotten that."

Edna smiled, now softly, as clouds started rolling in from the south and threatened to smother the daytime warmth with rolling thunder. Good. Now she wouldn't have to waste energy on atmosphere.

Her attention turned to a police car that had departed the asylum, rolling slowly down the winding road in accordance with a strict speed limit sign that she didn't remember being there when she last passed through during her grand escape. She could only guess what incident had prompted that decision.

Edna gulped and didn't dare look towards the church steeple standing tall over the nearby town. She had a bad feeling that she wasn't the only nutcase who didn't rest in peace.

"Looks like my ride's here." She announced, forcing her mind to her next task. She stood and walked back to the railing, stepping up onto the cold metal in the same place she had once seen another stand. The distant growl of a brewing storm brought her back to that fateful night, and with it the confidence and gratitude that perhaps an old friend was setting the stage for her.

"Don't be a stranger." Gerret said suddenly, surprisingly with some amount of warmth, "I know a certain little girl who might want her best friend back."

Edna gave him a final mischievous look. "Well if I do come back, I'll have a real fun story to tell."

And as the car traveled by, she was gone like dust in the wind. A few minutes passed before Gerret began strolling back to the asylum, hoping fate would grace him with the gift of a little girl's forgiveness, at least as an apology for inflicting such tragedy on him. He liked this small quiet town, far from the bustling city where his loved ones were still dabbing their eyes in grief. And he was very fond of the people, not the least of which was that cunning golden haired child. Admittedly, was even starting to tolerate Edna, the wild and crazy sylph that she was (though her awnry animal friend not so much).

For the first time in a long while, Gerret smiled. He hoped she'd come back.

After all, he always enjoyed a good horror story.

* * *

The sky flashed before a clamor of lightning rang through the air, causing the overhead fluorescent lights to flicker briefly. Though the roar rang through his ears, Dr. Marcel didn't wince in the slightest. He found the weather's dramatics much too cliche to frighten him.

The coming storm was only the least in a long list of things he would have to become accustomed to. This uncomfortable holding cell, while pleasantly warm, offered little else by way of comforts. He hadn't expected to be pampered given his record of criminality, but the plain hard concrete that surrounded him wasn't exactly welcoming. Not to mention that all he had to distract himself from this situation were ceaseless thoughts of regret and anger.

Again, the lights flickered, but this time more violently. The temperature cooled a tad, making Marcel shift nervously in his wheelchair, but it was an eerily familiar voice that brought a chill down his spine.

" _Well, well. Look what the rabbit dragged in."_

No.

The light bulbs above shattered. The whole room was thrown into darkness.

" _You look like Hell, Marcel. I knew that little tumble you took would do a number on you."_

Lightning struck twice with a thunderous crash. This time Marcel flinched, but only at the sight of what had appeared once the blinding light had faded.

He must be losing his mind. This is inconceivable.

" _But I'm sure you didn't deserve it at all. That's what you're good at, right? Dodging blame?"_

 _Impossible._

Like a knife, her luminescent figure cut through the darkness. Her hair was dyed dark purple, and a loose white hospital gown hung over her slim frame, swinging slightly as she took slow steps towards him. Without her signature plush rabbit, she looked so much more like her age, no longer a child cowering in the corner of a lonely padded cell.

" _Doesn't look like you're going to be dodging much now, though."_

Every inch closer drained another degree from the air and put another tiny pinch of pressure on Dr. Marcel's heart. He knew well the feelings of dread, hatred, and anxiety, but he now realized he had never known true fear to its full magnitude.

With all of his years of strategizing and conspiring, he should have had something substantial to defend himself. But as the grim truth ambled leisurely forward across the frigid concrete, he found himself too horrified to even scream in primal fear.

She was a few feet from him when he finally found words, a thin desperate denial carried through a hushed whisper.

"You're supposed to be _dead_."

The spindly spector grinned sweetly, allowing the skin on her cheek to thin and expose her water-worn bones.

" _ **Did you really think that was going to stop me?"**_


End file.
